Inventory
Dep.268
Highland Society of London
National Library of Scotland
Manuscripts Division
George IV Bridge
Edinburgh
EH1 1EW
Tel: 0131-466 2812
Fax: 0131-466 2811
E-mail: manuscripts@nls.uk
© Trustees of the National Library of Scotland
Records of The Highland Society of London.
Deposited by the Society, October 1977: inventory prepared October-November 1977.
CORRESPONDENCE &C
Spring-clip filing boxes containing administrative correspondence of the Society 17811931, with other papers similarly filed. The correspondence was listed in the early part
of this century, and there are lists in boxes 1-3; the lists are often inaccurate and should
be revised.
1.
1 October 1781 - 30 September 1820.
2.
1 October 1820 - 31 December 1827.
3.
1 January 1828 - 30 April 1831.
4.
1 June 1831 - 31 March 1838.
5.
1 April 1838 - 30 April 1841.
6.
1 May 1841 - 30 April 1890 (not consecutive).
7.
1 May 1841 - 31 October 1892.
8.
1 November 1892 - 29 February 1893 (sic].
9.
1 March 1893 - 31 October 1893.
10.
1 November 1893 - 2 April 1894.
11.
3 April 1894 - 30 September 1894.
12.
1 October 1894 - 30 April 1895.
13.
1 May 1895 - 9 February 1931 (not consecutive).
14.
Box of ‘Draft Minutes, 1820-1840’ (see also 27 below).
15.
Box of ‘Miscellaneous Pamphlets, Prospectuses, etc, 1781-1895’. Miscellaneous
printed items include Padrig MacGh’Illeoin, Oran Nuadh, air na Finneachan
Gaidhealeach, Lunnadain 1788; St Fillans and Strathearn Games handbills, 1820s;
Copy Highland Society Act, 1831; Piping Memoranda, 1820s; Rules of Highland
Club of Scotland, 1825; Piping handbills, 1785-6, 1826, 1830; An Comunn
Gaidhealach Constitution, 1890s; Blackie Memorial prospectus, 1895.
Manuscript items include Falkirk piping competition minutes, 1782; ‘List of
Titles of MacCallums Collection of ancient Poetry’ (as translated by Rev Dr
Thomas Ross of Lochbroom), n.d.; ‘Proposal for establishing a Gaelic Chapel in
London’, w.m. 1798; ‘Gaelic song composed and sung by Donald Mackay’ to
Society, 1803; ‘Sketch of C Macrae’s Accot for Medal & Cup’ 1802; ‘Prospectus
of a National work … Illustrations of the Costume of the Scottish Highland
clans’, w.m. 1818; Report of Sub-committee on Expenditure 1818 (? Transfer to
box 14); Extract from Gaelic Chapel Subscribers’ Minutes, 1823; various
submissions in an Essay Competition, 1824, with opinions by John Galt; ‘List of
Pipers with their Tunes’, July 1824; ‘Athole Highland Meeting’ report, 1827;
protest by Paisley Highlanders Association at abolition of 79 QOCH; circular re
Duke of York wedding present subscription, 1893; list of Gaelic and English
toasts, n.d.
Also includes an unbound essay ‘Gaelic Literature; and the Poems of Ossian’,
signed ‘Gaelus, Glendarraig, Highlands of Scotland June 1862’ (in an envelope
marked by J E Macpherson ‘Not Pimlico Package’).
16.
Box containing parcel of ‘Accounts and Receipts, 1796-1808’.
17.
Box containing parcel of ‘Accounts and Receipts, 1817-29’.
18.
Box containing parcel of ‘1830/50. Vouchers, keep & look through’.
19.
Box of miscellaneous items found loose in Society’s bookcase, including:
Bundle correspondence and printed items, c.1816-c.1850, re Society’s piping and
highland dress competitions.
Bundle of correspondence re branch societies, 19c., including Nova Scotia, New
Brunswick, Prince Edward Island.
Bundle of Consols receipts, 1813-37.
Commission, 1813, establishing branch in Cape of Good Hope: in tooled leather
case and japanned time carrying box.
Title page and pp.1-10 of John Reid, Bibliotheca Scoto-Celtica, 1832.
Report of General Assembly Education Committee, 1832.
Edinburgh Evening Courant, 19 February 1829, (HS of S premiums).
Memorandum Book, payments at Court meetings, 1840-41.
Two copise of T Stratton (‘Grad Univ Edinb’), Illustrations of the Affinity of the
Latin Language to the Gaelic or Celtic of Scotland, [Kingston, Upper Canada,
1840], with Proofs of the Celtic Origin of a Great Part of the Greek Language …,
ibid. 1840.
Subscription book. (blank) re acquisition of premises, 1821.
Petty cash book, 1878-90.
Envelope of cuttings re threatened disbanding of 79th Cameron Highlanders,
1893.
Letters and printed circulars re An Comman Gaidhealach’s (first) Mod, 1893; and
re ‘Our Highland Girls’, 1894.
Verses by Iain MacPhàidein, Glaschu 1894, ‘An T-Alltan’.
20.
Box containing a few blank membership certificates (printed 190-), and an earlier
certificate dated 1828 in favour of John Auldjo, together with Lyon Court
matriculation of Auldjo’s arms, 1826. Also a File of miscellaneous receipts,
1850s, 1893-5, found loose in Society’s cupboard.
MINUTE BOOKS
Minute Books for both committee and general business, some early items lettered ‘Gaelic
[sic] Society’ but containing Highland Society business, most with contemporary indexes
bound in or later indexes loose. Dates as follows:
21.
8 February 1783 - 17 December 1793.
22.
4 January 1793 - 17 February 1802 (‘Committee Book’).
23.
21 January 1793 - 18 May 1805 (‘Minutes &c’).
24.
15 March 1802 - 25 March 1808.
25.
7 May 1808 - 10 December 1814.
26.
10 December 1814 - 18 May 1816.
27.
2 February 1822 - 21 March 1829 (‘Rough Minute Book’).
28.
1 February 1870 - 1 February 1878.
29.
5 February 1878 - 3 March 1885 (with typed extracts from rules, prsumably for
later revisions).
30.
21 March 1885 - 22 June 1893.
31.
7 November 1893 - 5 May 1903.
ACCOUNT BOOKS, LETTER BOOK, &C
32.
‘Subscribers Accounts, Gaelic Society, 1783’. Highland Society, years, 1783-9.
33.
‘Subscribers Accounts, Gaelic Society, 1790’. Highland Society, years, 1790-96.
34.
‘Debit and Credit Accot. Book with the Treasurer, Gaelic Society, 1783’.
Highland Society, 20 January 1783 - 13 March 1816.
35.
‘Highland Society of London. Cash Book’, 1 January 1878 - 31 December 1913.
36.
‘Highland Society of London. Journal’, 31 December 1878 - 31 December 1913.
37.
‘Highland Society of London. Ledger’, 31 December 1878 - c, 1904.
38.
Letter Book, 21 February 1891 - 28 October 1893.
39.
Letter Book, 30 October 1893 - 15 November 1895.
40.
Letter Book, 18 November 1895 - 23 January 1901.
41.
‘Attendance, 1878’. Signatures of those attending meetings.
42.
‘Election of Members 1816 to 1836’. Candidates’ names and qualifications, with
signatures of proposers and seconders.
43.
Volume (cf.26 and 27 above) of ‘Extracts of the Proceedings of the Society from
the 6th of February 1819 to the 15th of May 1824’.
44.
Volume listing Candidates for Bursaries, 1890-1932, (nos.409 to 1674).
45.
Large volume listing military pensioners of the Society, ca. 1799-1816, in
regimental order, with details of service, ailments, residence and allowance.
46.
Box of miscellaneous printed Rules and Lists of Members, 1844-1892, several
annotated.
GAELIC MSS
Though there are, as usually indicated above, a few Gaelic items in the main series of the
Society’s archives, the bulk of the Gaelic material is concentrated in the following.
These manuscripts, which are part of the deposited collection, ownership of which
remains with the Highland Society, have for ease of reference been placed for
cataloguing with the Library’s other recently - acquired Gaelic MSS, numbers and short
descriptions as follows:
MS.14891
(‘Pimlico Package, no.7’). Quarto notebook of Gaelic poems by
Donald MacPherson, Pimlico, author of Melodies from the Gaelic and
original Poems (London, 1824), watermarked 1828.
MS.14892
(‘Pimlico Package, no.10’). Octavo notebook containing drafts of
Gaelic and English poems by Donald MacPherson, 1822-48.
MS.14893
(‘Pimlico Package, no.11’). Quarto notebook of Gaelic and English
poems compiled from various sources by Donald MacPhrson,
watermarked 1831.
MS.14894
(from ‘Pimlico Package’). 257 ff. Donald MacPherson’s literary and
linguistic papers. Gaelic poems and prose; an Irish poem; English
poems; correspondence; prospectus of MacPherson’s collection of
Gaelic and English poetry (never published); Gaelic-English, WelshEnglish and Latin-English-Gaelic word-lists, with notes on other
languages; essays on Ossian.
MS.14895
(from ‘Pimlico Package’). ii + 189 ff. Donald MacPherson’s historical
papers. Dissertation on origin of Clan Chattan, with connected
philological notes; essay on origin of chiefship; on origin and pedigree
of Clan Chattan, and MacPhersons in particular; genealogy of Cluny,
probably taken by Douglass from MS of Aeneas Mapherson, Advocate,
of Invereshie; genealogical account of Macphersons of Pitmian and
their branches, by Gilbert Macpherson, Argyll, 1767; remarks on
MacPherson genealogy by William C MacPherson: list of MacPherson
families in Badenoch since 1763; purported loyal address to King
George by 102 chief heritors of Highlands in 1715, with their names;
account of a visit to the Holy Land.
MSS.14896-7
Prize essay in two volumes on the history of the Highland clans, by W
F Skene, 1834, entitled ‘Gael Albanich’.